Fixing Broken Mayonnaise

Well the moon and the stars must not have been aligned just right today because the homemade mayo broke. It wasn't just thin, but a downright egg-and-oil-separated, curdled-looking mess of goo. See picture below. Yuck. But still tasted fantastic :)

Original post and recipe here. 

I've been really lucky so far this year as all the batches have turned out great. I guess I was due for a bad one. I think my problem today was that the mixer speed was too high. I have always done my mayo at medium high speed but I see that others recommend medium to low. Perhaps I've just gotten lucky this past year by beating at the top end of the speed the eggs find tolerable. I did crank it up a notch today and apparently that was not a wise decision.

Because this can happen to anyone, I wanted to share what I did to reclaim it. Now you don't have to reclaim it, you could use it for something else, like cooking some delicious eggs swimming in the buttery tasting sauce. Or as some fabulous hair conditioner.




But I wanted it back as I was going to use it as a base for Christine's Freaking Amazing Chipotle Cilantro Dip. Yes, that is the dip's full name. At least in this household.

I knew it wasn't coming back from the dead after the first 1/2 cup of EVOO went in, so I didn't bother trying to add more oil. (I'm a doctor Jim!, not a... wait a minute...). I first added 2 teaspoons boiling water to the mess while beating on low-medium speed for several minutes. Apparently it's supposed to cook the mixture a little to thicken it up. Nope.

I then scraped the whole mess into a different bowl and washed all the mixing equipment. I cracked another egg and put the yolk in the mixing bowl (this one wasn't room temperature as I hadn't been expecting this) and beat it on low to medium speed with 1 teaspoon water and 1/2 teaspoon vinegar until creamy. I then added the broken mayo back as the oil, teaspoon by teaspoon, drop by drop, making sure to incorporate well before adding more.

It emulsified well, so after I got all the broken stuff in, I continued with the original plan and beat in the avocado and coconut oils. In the end, the mayo seemed a little thin. This didn't worry me much because, as a dip, it should be a little thinner anyway to allow scooping. However, after refrigerating, it set up nicely as the coconut oil solidified and would have been perfectly fine as straight mayo as well.

Christine's Dip was made and all was happiness in the house. 

Anyone have any other tips for rescuing broken mayonnaise? If so, please share!